by Dudley Pope
Now, if Ramage's memory served him, Blackwood was commanding the frigate Euryalus. And at that moment Ramage realized how weary the man must be.
"Do sit down. Have you eaten recently? A hot drink?"
Blackwood shook his head but sat down thankfully, obviously painfully stiff. "I'm a little weary, so forgive me if I don't make much sense: I arrived in Lymington village late last evening, after losing the wind at the back of the Wight and having to be rowed in. I managed to post up to Town - I kept those horses at a good gallop - and reached Lord Nelson at Merton at five o'clock this morning, and after giving him the news, posted on to the Admiralty to tell Lord Barham."
The man was almost asleep - certainly dazed with weariness. "What news?" Ramage asked gently.
"Sorry, I was thinking of Lord Nelson's message for you. What happened was, we understood the Combined Fleet was in Ferrol and Coruña - they'd bolted there when His Lordship chased 'em back across the Atlantic. But I was off Cape St Vincent with the Euryalus when I suddenly met them all at sea, steering south, either for Cadiz - most likely - or the Strait.
"I guessed they were making for Cadiz to join the rest of their brethren, so I chased them long enough to be sure. Then I steered for the Channel to raise the alarm. I met Rear-Admiral Calder with eighteen line-of-battle ships and warned him, and while he went south after the enemy I carried on for the Channel. Took me ten dam' days with contrary winds before I got up as far as the Isle of Wight and lost the wind altogether.
"I had myself rowed ashore in the dark - and a wretched muddy place Lymington creek is, I can assure you - and managed to hire a 'chaise to London: it's going to cost Their Lordships £15 9s - if they agree to pay the charge."
He rubbed his eyes. "Shake me if I fall asleep on you: the drumming of the hoofs and the clatter of the wheels are still in my head. Anyway, I reached Merton and told His Lordship, and then went on to raise the alarm at the Admiralty. Lord Barham may be well over eighty years old, but he wakes up a deal faster than I do!
"Now we get to Lord Nelson's message (sorry, I had to tell you the rest so it makes sense). Before I left him at Merton - he decided to come up to the Admiralty in his own carriage with Lady Hamilton - he gave me your address and told me to call as soon as I'd finished at the Admiralty. The message is simply that His Lordship will be sailing in the Victory from St Helens as soon as maybe, and you're to sail as quickly as possible, joining him at St Helens or, if he's managed to get away from the Isle of Wight, join the fleet off Cadiz and place yourself under my command.
"He said that he doesn't mind if you arrive short of a couple of new topsails and half a dozen guns, but he needs every frigate he can get. As he's giving me command of a sort of inshore squadron, I can bear that out: there'll be three or four frigates, once I get off Cadiz with the Euryalus, but for what His Lordship has in mind, ten wouldn't be enough. I tell you, Ramage, His Lordship is breathing fire: he won't be satisfied with less than the complete destruction of the Combined Fleet."
"How many ships have they?"
"About thirty or more," Blackwood said. "Depends how many were waiting for them in Cadiz."
"And His Lordship?"
Blackwood made a face and admitted in a soft burr: "Well, Lord Barham was counting them up while I was in his office and he waited for Lord Nelson, and with luck there'll be twenty. More, of course, if they can be got ready in time. But several ships of the line are in the dockyards, quite apart from frigates like your Calypso. I gather you've already had your orders from Lord Barham: it's just a question of chasing up the dockyard, and taking on powder at Black Stakes?"
Ramage nodded, thinking of Aldington, St Kew, his father's new will, and Sarah. Yes, it was different for a married naval officer. "Yes - with a decent wind I'll be at St Helens before His Lordship boards the Victory!"
CHAPTER FIVE
Farewells were over: Raven had carefully stowed his trunk on the postchaise at London Bridge, where the Dover 'chaise started, and the Marsh man, before saying goodbye to Ramage and taking the carriage back to Palace Street, handed over a letter. "From Her Ladyship, sir. Said you was to read it on board your ship."
Then with shouts and the cracking of whips over the backs of the four horses, the postchaise began its dash: the one other passenger was a bishop returning to his see of Dover, the usual plump and self-satisfied prelate who at first seemed put out at having to share the carriage with a Navy captain but who became almost servile the moment he heard Raven bidding farewell to "My Lord". Was His Lordship travelling far? the bishop inquired. No, Ramage said, not far. Perhaps His Lordship lived in Kent? Yes, Ramage said, at Aldington.
But . . . but this 'chaise doesn't go to Aldington: it goes through the Medway towns. For Aldington His Lordship needs the 'chaise that goes through Ashford.
"I'm not going to Aldington," Ramage said shortly, cursing that he had to start the day, let alone the journey (which would end at Cadiz!), with this dreary, cringing churchman whose pink complexion and bloated features labelled him a trencherman, as handy with a fork as a Biblical quotation.
"Oh, I thought you said ..."
"You asked me where I lived. I also have an estate in Cornwall and a house in Town, but I'm not going to any of them," Ramage said coldly and was quickly ashamed of his exaggerations, but this wretched fellow refused to be snubbed.
"Ah, you're joining a ship; I can guess that."
Ramage looked out of the window. The carriage was just approaching the Bricklayer's Arms. "Yes," he said grudgingly, and suddenly felt a wish to boast that he was joining Lord Nelson, but to this bishop war, no doubt, was only an inconvenience since it did not interrupt meals.
"It must be an exciting moment."
"On the contrary; I've lived on board the same ship for the past few years and it will stink of fresh paint and men will be hammering away all day and night."
"Dear me, how unpleasant. You should send your deputy down, until everything is ready."
Was that how the Lord's work was done in the see of Dover? Ramage wondered.
The bishop lifted a large basket on to his lap and began folding back a napkin. The basket was full of food and the bishop began tearing the meat from a chicken leg. The chomping of his teeth kept time with the horses' hooves until he stopped to wrench the cork from a bottle of wine.
New Cross . . . they would change horses at Blackheath. How long would that basket of food keep the worthy bishop quiet? The 'chaise was soon passing the Isle of Dogs, over to the left, on the far side of the Thames as it snaked its way through London. In half an hour - less, perhaps - they would reach Shooter's Hill, passing the quiet beauty of Greenwich Palace on the left. Down there, within a few hundred yards of the Thames, Henry VIII and his two daughters, the great Elizabeth and the less favoured Mary, had all been born. Both the father Henry and the daughter Elizabeth had (almost alone among the monarchs!) understood the importance of a strong Navy - due, perhaps, to childhood days spent watching the ships passing? Today the great palace was the Seamen's Hospital; men crippled in the King's service at sea now stumped about with crutches and wooden legs where once (three centuries earlier) a boyish Henry VIII had played.
The bishop chomped on, delving among the napkins to see what else he had to eat. Enough at the present rate to last him until the 'chaise got through Welling and stopped at the Golden Lion at Bexley Heath . . . Golf. The thought suddenly struck Ramage. Wasn't it somewhere round here - the common at Blackheath? - that James I first introduced the curious game to England? Ramage shrugged: he did not play himself, and the bishop looked as though he was already taking the only physical exercise he favoured.
Finally, the carriage swung into the courtyard of the Golden Lion and the two postboys leapt to the ground to drop the steps with the usual crash. The bishop groaned, though Ramage was not sure if it was the noise or the need to leave his food.
Ramage jumped down to be met by the innkeeper, anxious to serve sherry, cocoa, coffee, ale or whatever the gentleman
fancied. The gentleman, stiff and bored, his thoughts suspended somewhere between Palace Street and the number three dock at Chatham, wanted to be left alone. The bishop called for "A cool mug of ale, my good man," and the ostlers led up the fresh horses.
Soon after the carriage had started again, the bishop belched contentedly as he dozed, and then wakened to assault the basket once more and continued eating until they had gone through Crayford and were pulling in at The Bull at Dartford to change the horses. Ramage walked round the carriage a few times and soon after they began moving again the bishop was snoring stertorously, lulled by more beer rather than the rough road.
Horns Cross (curious, he remembered a village of the same name in Devon), then Northfleet and Gravesend, the brown muddy Thames running alongside. The driver had barely started the horses pulling out of Gravesend when he had to stop at the first of the turnpikes, at Chalk Street. Like a thousand coachmen before him, he swore as he fished in his pocket for the coins to pay the tollkeeper.
Not far, not far, Ramage thought thankfully; the next village of any note is called Halfway House, though Ramage was puzzled by the name. It was certainly not halfway between London and Rochester. Perhaps between Gravesend and the Medway at Rochester?
The bishop woke up, grunted and made another foray into his basket, cursing a fly which was anxious to spend a few minutes on a crumb clinging to the bishop's chin. "Ha, soon be at Gad's Hill," he said, raising his head momentarily from the basket.
"Damnably uncomfortable, these machines. I wonder they dare charge tenpence a mile. Ought to pay the travellers tenpence a mile to travel in 'em."
Ramage smiled politely at the only worthwhile comment the bishop had made so far. However, one does not have to attend his cathedral: imagine that voice droning on, warning the congregation against the sin of gluttony . . .
The horses seemed to find a second wind: perhaps they could sniff the Medway and knew they now had a good clear run down a gentle slope to Rochester, where they would be taken out and replaced by fresh horses to take the carriage on to Sittingbourne before being changed again.
Soon Ramage could see the 110-foot-high ruined keep of Rochester Castle, which had been guarding this crossing of the Medway since the twelfth century: yes, and there was the cathedral, one of the oldest in the county, if not the country. Rochester was a fine old town with dignified buildings and, like all places built with a reason - to guard the crossing of the Medway - having its own purposeful air about it, even though it was now a distant memory.
Finally the 'chaise swung into the courtyard of the post inn at Chatham, and as soon as the boys had slammed down the steps, Ramage climbed down, every bone in his body aching, and the cobbles hard and unyielding underfoot. Make the most of it, he told himself; within the week you'll be tired of tramping the Calypso's deck. And there'll be no changing horses at Cadiz . . .
The livery coach clattered through the gate and rounded up alongside the Calypso as she sat four-square in the dock, seeming twice as big out of the water, her masts towering so high it seemed they ought to scratch lines in the low cloud.
The steps slammed down and Ramage climbed out of the coach, thankful that he had left the bishop when he had changed from the 'chaise in Chatham town. But there was something odd about the Calypso. The new copper sheathing below the waterline was bright (but measled green where rain had started corrosion). A moment later he realized why it was different. Normally her hull was entirely black, with just a white strake the width of the portlids (which, painted red inside, made a chequerboard effect when the portlids were raised and the guns run out). But now there was a broad yellow strake along the side of the Calypso instead of the white. This was the way that Lord Nelson always painted his ship - the Victory had three rows, or strakes, of yellow - and many of his captains copied the style with their own ships, to show they were serving (or had served) with His Lordship. And now someone - Aitken, Southwick? - had added the yellow strake to the Calypso in anticipation.
Not only had whoever it was braved the captain's wrath (although it would take only a few hours to restore the white), but he must have paid for the paint himself, because the dockyard issued only black or white paint. Anyone wanting something different could paint his ship whatever colour he chose (Ramage could see a plum-coloured 74 in the next dock), but the captain paid for it out of his own pocket. A ship of the line painted a light colour showed that her captain had either a good independent income or had been lucky with prize money.
And there were Aitken and Southwick, both looking remarkably worried, hurrying towards him as two seamen ran up to lift off his trunk.
Aitken, as first lieutenant, saluted gravely and then, after briefly welcoming Ramage back, gestured at the Calypso's hull. "We thought, sir, as we are joining Lord Nelson's fleet, that . . ."
Ramage deliberately looked grave. Southwick, saluting, said quickly: "We thought we'd anticipate your orders, sir."
Ramage looked him up and down. "What makes you think I'd want to fling pots of yellow paint at my ship, eh?"
Both men looked so crestfallen, like guilty schoolboys, that Ramage laughed. "It looks very good, but I'll pay for it: give me the dockyard vouchers and I'll settle 'em. And we'll need a few gallons more to keep it looking bright."
Aitken sighed with relief, but Southwick chuckled. "I told him you'd be pleased, but he was far from sure. In fact yesterday he wanted to paint it out, so we'd be back to a white strake."
"How soon can we get afloat?" Ramage demanded, aware that the two seamen preparing to lift his trunk were deliberately dawdling so that they could hear what was being said.
"On the next tide, as long as the master attendant agrees," Aitken assured him.
"Very well, arrange that: Lord Nelson and the Victory - with yellow strakes - are waiting for us at St Helens, and the French and the Dons are waiting for both of us in Cadiz!"
Southwick grinned and said: "We'll get afloat even if we have to open the dock gates ourselves: the men will be happy enough to knock away the shores - they're fed up with life in drydock!"
"Very well, get word to the master attendant and report to my cabin in fifteen minutes." With that he walked out along the gangplank and went on board. He stood on the quarterdeck before going down the companion way to his cabin. Yes, it was all here: the reek of paint, so strong that the smell ought to be visible as thick smoke, and somewhere there was the rapid metallic thud of hammers - the last of the sheathing nails being driven home? Probably. The noise echoed dully through the ship, as though the banging was on the outside of the hull.
His cabin smelled like a paint store, even though the skylights were wide open and the portlids for the 12-pounders were hoisted up, wide open on each side of the great cabin and in the bed place and coach. In half an hour he would have a splitting headache. But all three cabins sparkled: there was fresh white paint on the bulkheads and deckhead, reflecting the light, and the canvas on the soles of all three cabins had been repainted, the black and white squares freshened up so that it seemed he had new carpets. His bed swung from the heavy metal eyes bolted into the beams and there were no spots of paint on it - someone had, thank goodness, stowed it out of the way before the paint brushes were put to work. And Sarah had sewn new covers for him, and made sure they were packed in his trunk.
The letter from Sarah, given him by Raven as he boarded the 'chaise, nestled in the inside pocket of his frock-coat, and after pitching his hat on to the settee he sat at the desk (the top freshly polished and still smelling of the bosun's special beeswax-and-turpentine mixture that the men had used) and took a paperknife from the top drawer.
Pride, awe, delight... it was difficult to sort out the emotions, but the letter was addressed to him in Sarah's handwriting, and there was the griffin seal. A letter from Lady Ramage. The first he had ever received but, God willing, the first of many.
He was reluctant to break the seal for reasons he could not explain. Her handwriting and the Ramage seal seemed an enti
ty: to open the letter would somehow spoil it. But leaving it sealed defeated the whole purpose . . .
He slid the knife under the wax and opened out the folded page. The letter was brief. She loved him and was disappointed that this time she was staying at home while he went to sea - he had to smile: it was typical of Sarah to dismiss the long months that she had been one of Bonaparte's prisoners in such a casual fashion. And, underlined, was a reference to his father's admonition that frigates did not stand in the line of battle. Her final sentence stirred up memories to which his loins responded. He heard a stamping outside and noted that the captain now had his Marine sentry outside the door - either Aitken had passed the word or Rennick, the Marine lieutenant, had seen the carriage arrive. The sentry was probably rigged out in working dress ten minutes ago, painting or helping with the rigging, and had hurriedly changed into uniform, careful not to knock the pipeclay off the crossbelts.
Ramage was still holding Sarah's letter when he heard feet coming down the companion ladder and, a few moments later, the sentry's shout of: "The first lieutenant and the master, sir!" Both men came into the cabin in answer to Ramage's call and he gestured for them to sit down. It was a ritual - the master with his flowing white hair and unadmitted rheumatism sat in the armchair beside the desk, while Aitken used the settee.
The two of them waited patiently for Ramage to begin. However, although Ramage had seen them less than a week ago at the Royal Exchange at the Lloyd's presentation, he wanted to hear first about the ship.
"Well, as I told you on the dock, sir, we're about ready," Aitken said. "The men are hammering in the nails on the last few sheets of sheathing, as you can hear, and every inch of running and a good half of the standing rigging has been renewed. The master sailmaker agreed to condemn all the topsails and t'gallants, so we have new ones. They've all been scrubbed to get the sizeout of 'em. We had three days without a breath of wind so we could hoist 'em, let fall, and check over the cut. They're all strong sails, sir, with the last row of reef points put in deep.